Millions of caterpillars invade northern Liberia, devastating crops

Hordes of voracious caterpillars are destroying crops and prompting terrified villagers to flee their homes in northern Liberia in what is described as the West African country's worst plague in 30 years, a UN agency said Thursday.

12:10AM GMT 23 Jan 2009

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation said the about 1-inch-long caterpillars are advancing in the tens of millions, devouring vegetation and food crops.

The invasion is likely to spread to neighboring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast unless it is quickly contained, said entomologist Winfred Hammond, who is also the agency's representative in Liberia.

Mr Hammond blamed the outbreak on last year's unusually long rain season in the country.

The FAO also said that the caterpillars, suspected to be African armyworms, are clogging wells and waterways with excrement. In some communities, villagers are unable to reach their farms as they are surrounded by the pests.

Experts are trying to identify the exact species to choose the best pesticide to combat them, the agency said. However, aerial spraying risks further contaminating the water and hand spraying has proved ineffective, as the caterpillars dwell on the leaves of giant forest trees that can rise more than 26 feet.

The last African armyworm outbreak in the area occurred in Ghana in 2006, the agency said.